Pre-business honors freshmen got a taste of life at Eller this semester with a team building challenge – the Guacamole Wars.

The event began with an orientation in Berger. Pre-business honors freshman Hayley Topp attended the event. “It was a good icebreaker for getting to know the people I will be spending time with in the next four years,” Topp said.

Following the orientation, honors students divided into three color divisions and then into teams of three or four members. The teams accumulated the ingredients for their guacamole by completing ‘guac trivia’. The questions included half guacamole knowledge and half UA history knowledge. The teams were ranked sequentially, and teams that answered the most questions had the first choice of ingredients. Each team also received a secret ingredient, such as bacon or blueberries, to incorporate into their guacamole.

“The event was amazing,” said participant Levi Wittrock. “I really connected with one of my teammates and think it’s the start of a great friendship.” Wittrock said the highlight of the event was tasting each team’s guacamole and finding out the recipes behind the guac.

Eller undergraduate programs aims to hold a similar event annually. The Guacamole Wars idea was inspired by an Iron Chef-like challenge that Eller MBA students participate in during their orientation week. The guacamole spin debuted as a team building activity for the professional development staff. “The event had a clear path of set up and grew into a large scale event for the freshman honors students,” said senior academic adviser Aubrey Anglemyer. “The event was a success because it showed the effort Eller makes to immerse students and make them feel involved in College-wide activities.”

Mary Terkelsen, who participated in the event, confirmed it. “Overall, I felt like this team building exercise was a great and fun way to get pre-business students more involved with Eller,” she said.